The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-09-04
not be condemned for a mistake it may have
made in revoking license, which possibly
was never justly issued
DIVORCES IN INDIANA AND ELSEWHERE.

DIVORCES IN INDIANA AND ELSEWHERE.
A recent dispatch from Logansport stated
that the records of Cass county show that
since Jan. /, 1884, 208 divorces we're decreed,
while in the same period but 1C20 marriage
licenses were issued. On the strength of this
the conclusion was drawn that there are
fully one fifth many legal separations annu-
ally in Indiana as there are marriages." and
the further assertion made that 1.-THE law
of Indiana regarding divorces is liberal in the
broadcast sense of the word, and it is scarcely
possible to conceive of a case where appeal
for separation by divorce could be made with
out success" Both of these assertions are
misleading and calculated to do injustice TO
the State. There statistics to show
the number of marriages that occur in the
State from year to year, but we are not pre-
pared to believe that the number of divorces
is twenty per cent, or one-ffth, of the num-
Der of marriages. We have partial statistics
in regard to the number of divorces. Returns
from fifty-one counties show that in the year
1885 there were S14 divorces, an average of
say 16 to the county. In 1856 there
S25 divorces in So counties an average of Is
to the county. These incomplete returns in
dictate an average of fifteen to sixteen divorces
to each county per year. nearly ], 800 per
year in the entire 90 counties composing the
State. The report from Logansport shows the
divorces in Cass county to have been greatly
in excess of the average. We have returns
IL Al.
must be many times the number of divorces.
The showing is not creditable at best, but it
should not be represented worse than it really
is. The marriage tie is far too loose in most
of the States, but Indiana is not as bad as
some other States in this regard. For many
years the divorce law in this State was
source of scandal and disgrace, but our pres
ent law, if rightly administered, is not bad
one. The old law required only one years
residence, the present one requires two years.
This is material improvement. Comparing
our divorce law with that of some other
States, Indiana has seven statutory causes Of
divorce, and requires two years residence;
Ohio has nine statutory causes, and requires
y
and one years residence; Michigan eight
causes and one years residence; Iowa six
causes and one years residence; Wisconsin, ten
causes and one years residence; Kansas, nine
causes and one years residence; Nebraska,
seven causes and six months residence; Ne
vada seven causes and six months residence
Minnesota, six causes and one years resi-
dence; Colorado, eight causes and one years
residence. OF all these States Indiana is the
only one that requires residence of two
years. In this regard it is in advance of most
of the States, and is by means the most
lax in its statutory causes. The divorce laws
III some of the Territories are disgracefully
loose Thus Dakota has six statutory causes
and requires only ninety days residence Ida
no, nine causes and six months residence;
New Mexico, four causes and no period of
residence stated: Arizona, nine causes and
six months residence.
The discretionary clause which formerly
existed in Indiana, but which has been abol-
ished, is still retained in some States Thus
in Connecticut the courts have power to grant
divorce "for any cause that permanently de-
stroys the happiness Of the petitioner and
defeats the purposes of the marriage relation"
In Kentucky divorce may be granted ''for
any cause at the discretion of the court" In
Maine (unless the law has been changed re-
cently), a court may grant divorce for 'any
cause conducive to domestic harmony and
consistent with the peace and morality of so
ciety." In Washington Territory, s.for any
cause deemed sufficient by the court" Ari-
has the following extraordinary provi-
sion: whenever the judge who hears the
cause DEGREES the case to be within the reason
of the law, within the general mischief the
law intended to remedy, or within what it
may be presumed would have been provided
against by the Legislature establishing the
foregoing cause of divorce had it foreseen the
specific and found language to meet it
without including cases not within the same
reason, he shall grant the divorce" AS
literary curiosity in the way of legislation
that is entitled to the palm.
In regard to the period of desertion that
will furnish ground for divorce eight States
require only year; nine States, including
Indiana, require two years; thirteen States
require three years, and two States five years.
In conclusion, we think it may be conf
IDENTIFY asserted that the present divorce law
Of Indiana compares favorably with that of
most of the other States, and that the average
number of divorces granted in this State in
proportion to population does not exceed that
which rules elsewhere. The stigma that once
attached to Indiana in this regard no longer
exists.
MINOR MENTION.
h. Il de Il he Lid;